Over the years, various guards or shields have been developed to provide a barrier between the cutter or bit of a machine tool and the machine operator, in order to reduce the possibility of injury. Typically, these guards or shields comprise fixed panels, pivotable panels, or slidable panels which are mounted to a support member, which is itself mounted to a non-rotating portion of the machine tool. Although these prior art guards or shields have provided some protection to the machine operators, these prior art shields are incapable of being universally employable, due to the wide variety of parts which can be machined by a particular machine tool.
Consequently, during actual applications, prior art machine guards or shields are either not employed by the operators or are moved into positions wherein their panels have little or no effect in performing the guarding function for which the shield was intended.
One major defect found in prior art machine tool guards or shields is the limited adjustability which the panels thereof can achieve. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,126,081 and 4,162,647 show the best known prior art shields with their limited flexibility and limited versatility. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,081, the sides of the shield are merely pivotable about a single axis, while the shield of U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,647 has sides capable of only vertical or horizontal movement in a single plane.
Consequently, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a machine tool shield which is capable of being readily mounted to any desired machine tool and which incorporates panels which are removably repositionable and universally readjustable to provide optimum shielding protection regardless of the configuration of the part being machined.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine tool shield having the characteristic features defined above which is readily installable on both horizontal and vertical machine tools such as millers, grinders, lathes, and the like.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine tool shield having the characteristic features defined above which incorporates panel members which are quickly and easily repositionable in a plurality of alternate configurations, thereby accommodating many different workpiece parts while also providing shield protection regardless of the part configuration.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine tool shield having the characteristic features defined above which also incorporates pivotable panels in order to further enhance the universality of the shield.
Other and more specific objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.